#ColourYourWords: Black- The Power of the unending black night.
#ColourYourWords: Black- The Power of the unending black night.
DISCLAIMER
This is a work of fiction. This story is meant for entertainment purposes only and does not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual, community, sect, or religion. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this Story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and unintentional.
She looked out of the only window before closing it securely and realized that it was a rather dark and black night outside.
She knew that such nights are long and unending and often go on stretching forever……suddenly she got a creeping sensation all over her frail body. How she wanted the dark night to end soon, maybe even abruptly and it to be daybreak! For daybreak would mean that her senior would come and then she need not be alone anymore. Or frightened.
But tonight, she was alone in the dark black night and terrified……….
She had been advised by her senior not to open the door at night under any circumstances. Her senior who had gone to town for some urgent work had promised that when he does return, he will give her the familiar three taps on the door, which was their secret sign to open up. Anything else would mean that it was not him but someone else.
In case of any further doubt, she had been given the code word 'Sauce' which only she and he knew. If she heard him saying 'Sauce' after the three taps, she was instructed to open the door.
Only for him. Her senior colleague. Dr. Raut.
Once more, she looked out of the window glass and realized that this night was darker and blacker than yesterday or the day before yesterday, or maybe darker and blacker than any night that she had ever experienced before while working in this small clinic as a trainee nurse.
Was it because it was the first time in her life that she was ever alone in the clinic?
Was it because of her being alone and fragile that she felt so scared? This meant that the dark black night had different meanings to different people in different situations.
The dark black night…….
Which had the power to hide in its belly any amount of secrets and scandals and spies………..
The dark black night………..
Which had the power to hide in its belly the bare truth or a blatant lie.
Until tonight, she had never realized how powerful the night really was! How powerful darkness could actually be! How deceptive it could be and how it could fool you with its changing shades!
Until now, she had thought that only the morning sky or the sunset with its ever-changing colors or the rainbow in the sky had the power to influence her.
Tonight, she realized that the blackness of the night had more colors than mere black and that even black was an ever-changing color, for black was never the same black every time. There were shades to even the color black and that the dark black night had different hues and emotions…….
She never realized when she had dozed off but was woken up suddenly by a sound.
She had almost jumped out of her bed with a start. Tonight she realized that she had become quite jumpy and excessively alert. Why she could even hear the howling of the wolves in a distance or the chirping of crickets far away! She realized that her ears had now become her soldiers, her warriors, defending her, protecting her from any possible enemy. She tried to steady her nerves and lit the only lamp in the clinic.
The clinic was in such a desolate area that there was no electric connection yet. It was an army clinic, along the country's border, which had been set up hastily in a remote area akin to a jungle. So the clinic was bare save for the nurse, a doctor (who was away), a few hospital beds and medicines, and of course, a make-shift operation theatre. Tonight, even Dr. Raut, the army doctor had gone away to attend an emergency and she was all alone. Presumably, she was a bunch of nerves.
She strained her ears………trying to listen……..and after a while, she could distinctly once more hear taps on the door……..
One, two, three…….
'Where there three taps on the door?' She asked herself fervently and tried to listen once more…….
One, two, three…….
Again, she felt that she had heard three distinct taps on the door……….
One, two, three…….
Now, she had convinced herself that there were indeed three distinct taps on the door………..
Tepidly, she made her way to the door, lamp in one hand and an iron rod in the other (her only make-shift weapon) and listened at the door for the code word……for she was smart and timid enough and would not have opened the door at this time of the night just after hearing the three taps……….she wanted to be doubly sure, for she was a very meticulous and a disciplined person by nature.
So she waited, her ears to the door, eager to hear………
When she heard it…………..
'Sauce……….Sauce………' said so meekly and then followed by the taps which were also getting increasingly weaker and slower……….
'Dr. Raut might have been hit by the cross firing' she thought, for it was such a common occurrence here, as common as being caught in the rains unawares in the city.
Dr. Raut might even be hurt or bleeding and if she did not open immediately, she would be in for harsh treatment from Dr. Raut. Dr. Raut was known to be a hot-tempered, overconfident guy, who considered everyone apart from him to be insignificant people and of course, he had never in his life and carrier given either any importance or thought or acknowledgment to the nurses who had assisted him so diligently in his work. As far as he was concerned, they neither existed nor mattered to him and to his great work of 'healing the world', as he used to think about his job.
The taps and the code name were getting more urgent and desperate………
She was now damn sure that Dr. Raut was in grave trouble……….so in a fright coupled with panic, she opened the door…………….
And saw him……….sprawled on the ground…….
Within a second, she pulled him inside and closed the door. When she bent down and focused the light of the lamp on his face, she recoiled with fear……………
It was not Dr. Raut!
Instead, a man in a soldier's uniform was looking at her, folding his hands and begging her to have 'pity on him' and to treat him. It was obvious that he had lost a lot of blood and was about to go into unconsciousness…..
"Sauce….Sauce" he was muttering weakly, but how did he know the secret code word? Or was it "Save&hel
lip;……Save?" she thought frantically. The words were so weak and inaudible that they could be anything……Sauce or Save……or……….
The 'nurse' inside her erupted without words and as if in 'auto-mode' she did all that she, as a nurse, was trained to do to save a wounded soldier. She checked his pulse, dressed his wound, gave him a pain killer injection, and put him on saline, watching over him diligently.
She looked at the wounded soldier and knew that though he was unconscious now, he would be better by morning. It was the first time that she had managed to save the life of a soldier of her country and what a great service to her nation she had done! She reminisced about it and felt a warmth of satisfaction over her. It was for this supreme work that she had dreamt of becoming a nurse!
Sleep was out of the question and how she prayed for the dark black night to get over soon! Daybreak would mean that the day nurse would come over and she would have company as well as support.
She looked at her watch. It was now around 2:30 am, still a few hours before dawn.
Once more, she looked out of the window……….and it was still very dark black outside…..
"Mmmmmm" she heard the soldier whisper and she rushed to listen to him……glad that he was finally gaining consciousness………..
"Mmmmmmm" muttered the soldier feebly, pointing at his pocket. The nurse understood and without a word, she opened the button of the pocket and was searching inside it…..when she found it……..a badge….with the soldier's photo on it.
He was a Sepoy of some battalion…..suddenly, her eyes widened and her heart started beating like never before!
He was a Sepoy of the enemy country!
A soldier of the enemy country, whom she had mistakenly nursed as a solider of her country!
She did not know what to do now, as she kept on looking at the pale face of the enemy soldier, her heart fluttering wildly, while the soldier or the enemy was murmuring something and then falling back unconscious and then again murmuring something…………
She distinctly remembered the advice that Dr. Raut had given her. She had been succinctly ordered not to treat the enemy soldiers and even if she did come across any such enemy soldier in an unconscious or wounded state, she was supposed to give him a lethal injection which would ensure his death.
She looked at the locked glass cupboard where that injection was kept………….just in case.
She knew what was expected of her next.
She was supposed to inject that into the enemy, snuffing out any hopes of life that might be present.
She kept on looking at the locked glass cupboard where that injection was kept………..for a long, long time….. and a look of dismay and confusion clouded her mind.
----------------------------------
The enemy soldier was muttering something unintelligible now…….he was just conscious enough to understand that he had been saved and nursed by this frail nurse who was sitting by his bedside on the small steel stool, looking at him, expectantly and with deep worry on her face.
He remembered that he had seen the plus sign on the clinic from afar and that was the only thing that had given him the courage to walk or crawl painfully towards it, even though he was badly wounded and bleeding………
He remembered vividly the exact moment when he had been shot at and had recalled that he had been more terrified than in pain…….It had been a completely moonless black night and fervently he had prayed for early dawn……..which might save him.
He also remembered that he had knocked on the door, once, twice, thrice, many, many times and had been crying out "Save me……..Save me………Save……….Save" and had it not been for the kind-hearted nurse who had immediately responded to his pleas of help, he would have died on the door of the clinic itself, without actually getting the medical help that was so near to him now.
But he had been lucky……..and had been saved……..
It had been a close save for him, something that he will remember for the rest of his life, especially since he has just joined the army this year and was relatively novice in the field.
When he had gained a bit of consciousness, he had looked around and had noticed the flag hanging prominently over the doctor's desk……and had panicked.
It was the enemy's flag!
That meant that he was in the clinic of the enemy!
He did not know how or when he had crossed the border and made his way here……
He tried to calm himself as he looked outside the window and noted that it was still very dark black outside……….which meant that help would still be a few hours away.
He looked at the kind, young nurse, seated across him, watching him intently, like a mother-hen, and was filled with infinite guilt and remorse……..
He had been instructed by his senior to kill any enemy that he would come across………….even if it was a doctor or a nurse……..especially a doctor or a nurse……..for it is possible that he might have blurted out some secrets to the doctor or nurse when he was losing consciousness….and that could never be forgiven………so the nurse or the doctor had to be killed.
The soldier looked at the nurse. Both did not speak a word to the other. But it was evident from their expressions that both had understood their mistake.
The soldier had committed the mistake of asking for help from the enemy.
The nurse had committed the mistake of nursing the enemy.
Both understood but did not let the other know 'that they knew' that the other was an enemy!
Both continued looking out at the dark black night outside……..
The solider knew that when it would be dawn, his fellow army men would come looking for him and as per their protocol, they would have no choice but to kill the nurse whom they would suspect of having learned some secret plans from the solider that he might have babbled when unconscious. So the soldier did not want the dark, black night which has the power to hide secrets in its belly, to ever end. Because when it will dawn, the power of the night will vanish and he would be forced by his army to kill the nurse…..
The nurse knew that when it would be dawn, her doctor will force her to give the soldier the lethal injection, as per their protocol. She did not want to do that for she always thought that 'a patient is a patient, neither a friend nor an enemy'. So the nurse did not want to dark, black night, which has the power to protect the life of the soldier, to ever end. Because when it will dawn, the power of the night will vanish and she would be forced by her doctor to kill the soldier…..
The nurse and the solider, both enemies to each, but bonded by a mutual attachment for the other, contrary to their initial thoughts where both had prayed for dawn, now found themselves hoping and praying that the dark black night would go on and on………… forever…..and should never ever end!